Danish lender is looking to sell the homes in one batch as part of its Irish exit strategy

Danske Bank is seeking to find a buyer for about 600 Irish residential properties which are attached to underperforming loans.

As part of its Irish exit strategy, the Danish bank is looking to sell the homes in one batch.

The original owners are understood to have bought the properties as investments, or buy-to-let homes, before defaulting on their debts, according to sources.

Overseas investors including Kennedy Wilson are buying up Irish property on the back of a limited recovery in prices.

A Danske spokeswoman declined to comment on the potential sale.

The bank is exiting retail and business banking in Ireland as well as winding down its property investments.

Other foreign lenders to unwind businesses in Ireland include the UK’s Lloyds Banking Group and Rabobank Groep from the Netherlands.

Kennedy-Wilson has agreed to buy a Dublin housing development from London-based Lloyds for more than €80 million.

Danske Bank yesterday it will pay its shareholders a dividend for the first time since 2007 as it struggles to match its largest Nordic competitors.

Owners will be paid 2 kroner a share, or 28 per cent of the lender’s net income for the year, Copenhagen-based Danske said today in a statement.

Net income rose to 1.9 billion kroner ($348 million) in the fourth quarter from 1.1 billion kroner a year earlier after writedowns shrank, it said. The profit fell short of the 2.1 billion kroner estimated by analysts.